The Boston Bruins apparently see something in Mason Lohrei that others didn’t.
And by no means do we mean that as an insult.
With their first pick in the 2020 NHL Draft (58th overall), the B’s selected the left-shot blueliner from the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers, with whom he’s about to enter his second full season.
This was the second year Lohrei was draft eligible, and it wasn’t until the most recent list was published that the 19-year-old (who will be 20 in January) appeared on the NHL’s Central Scouting rankings. Even then, he was placed 132nd amongst American skaters.
But you can see the upside. He’s 6-foot-4, 200 pounds and has proven in juniors he can be a two-way defenseman. He’s the son of a hockey coach, David Lohrei, who coached as high as the ECHL, and it’s clear in his play that even as a youngster he’s poised and plays with confidence and conviction.
Lohrei finished last season with eight goals and 29 assists in 48 games with Green Bay. He spent the end of the previous year with the Gamblers after finishing up at the Culver Military Academy, where he played 88 games of prep hockey.
Was it a bit shocking that the Bruins exhausted their second-round pick on him? Sure. But at the same time, it seems clear they think he’s a late bloomer that, with time, will become an impactful professional player.
“Obviously, a dream come true to get picked to the Boston Bruins, an Original Six organization. It’s kind of just surreal right now.”
Mason Lohrei, Bruins 2020 Second-round pick
So, while it might’ve been surprising from the outside to see him go so high, getting the call at 58th wasn’t a shock for Lohrei himself.
“I had really good conversations with a bunch of different guys,” Lohrei told reporters over Zoom after getting drafted. “I had probably a 35, 40-minute phone call with (general manager Don) Sweeney at one point this summer. A lot of good things. I had a good feeling. I was confident but you never know what is going to happen in the draft. Obviously, a dream come true to get picked to the Boston Bruins, an Original Six organization. It’s kind of just surreal right now.”
It’ll be a while before we even see Lohrei at the professional, never mind NHL, level. He has one more season with Green Bay in front of him, then he’ll go to Ohio State University next fall. That means all parties involved can be patient with his development.
And a lot of what the Bruins will get from Lohrei will be dependent on his development over the next couple years in amatuer hockey. He’s a pretty raw player right now, but that’s not the worst thing when he possesses many of the baseline skills needed to become reliable in the pro ranks.
“I’d consider myself a two-way defenseman, pretty skilled,” Lohrei said. “I take a lot of pride in how I defend, how I defend the rush, how I defend in my own zone, shutting things down and making good breakout passes to the forwards. But then once that happens, then the fun stuff begins. I get to jump up in the play and get pucks back. Use my skill and then I see myself as – I can play in all situations. Five-on-five, power play, penalty kill, stuff like that. Start games, finish games.
“I think I’m just a pretty simple player overall. I like to try to control the game when I’m out there, and when I have the puck. Yeah, that’s pretty much it.”
It’s unclear if or when development camp will take place this year. But when the time comes for Lohrei to report to Warrior Ice Arena for a few days in the offseason, it won’t be his first exposure to an NHL coaching staff.
Lohrei was invited to and took part in the Vegas Golden Knights’ 2019 development camp. He arrived and left a different player mentally for a simple reason: He realized he could keep up.
“Obviously, just an amazing experience to go there last year. I learned so many things about what it takes to be a pro and what I would have to do in order to get drafted this year. I took a lot of those things to heart. Just, nutrition, weights, working out, stuff like that. And then just how you act around the rink, how you treat your teammates,” Lohrei said.
“On the hockey side of it, I think I just learned that the beginning of that camp, I wasn’t super confident. As I started to play more, I gained some confidence and felt like I belonged out there. Definitely just that, being more physical is something from that camp that I learned a lot. Something that I’m really trying to implement in my game now.”
For now though, it’s finishing off his juniors career. He’ll do it with another name familiar to the Bruins, as his roommate in Green Bay is Jake Schmaltz, a 2019 seventh-round selection of Boston.
So, yes, it’ll be a bit before we see Lohrei in New England. But at first blush, it’s apparent why Don Sweeney and Co. want to one day get him into TD Garden.
